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PORTUGAL.

No. 47.-The Right Hon. Edward Thornton to Viscount Castlereagh. (Received July 30.)

MY LORD,

Rio de Janeiro, 4th May, 1821. THE receipt of your Lordship's Circular Letter, of the 22d September, 1820, to the Ministers at the Court of Madrid, The Hague, and Rio de Janeiro, relating to a judicial decision on the subject of a Ship engaged in the illegal Traffick of Slaves, was delayed on account of the accident which occurred to the October Packet, Montague, and that Dispatch did not reach me until two or three days before the events of the 26th of February; but I communicated it immediately to the Count de Palmella, who transferred it to his Successor, M. de Pinheiro.

It was about three weeks ago, that I received from the latter an Official Note, (of which, with its Inclosure, I have the honour of transmitting to your Lordship a Translation) announcing to me that Instructions would be sent to His Most Faithful Majesty's Minister, to sign an Additional Article, in the sense, and indeed in the literal expressions, of your Lordship's Dispatch. I expressed my willingness to sign the Article here, if His Most Faithful Majesty should regard the authority given to me by your Lordship's Dispatch as satisfactory; but it was judged right, in the formality of an Additional Article, that the requisite Full Powers should be exhibited on both sides.

I have likewise communicated to this Court, Copies of your Lordship's Dispatches of the 28th November, relating to subjects connected with the Slave-trade; and I shall leave Transcripts of these Papers in the hands of His Majesty's Commissioners for their government hereafter. I have the honour to be, &c.

Viscount Castlereagh, K. G.

EDWARD THORNTON.

(Inclosure 1.)—M. de Pinheiro Ferreira to the Rt. Hon. Edw. Thornton. (Translation.) Palace of Rio de Janeiro, 12th April, 1821. THE Undersigned, Minister and Secretary of State, &c. has received the King his Master's orders, to declare expressly and officially to Mr. Thornton, &c. that His Most Faithful Majesty accedes to the inclosed Additional Article, conceived in the very terms of Lord Castlereagh's Dispatch, as communicated to him.

His Majesty has in consequence given orders for transmitting to his Envoy at the Court of London the necessary Powers for presenting that Article, and for signing and subscribing it, on its approval, together with His Britannick Majesty's Plenipotentiary.

The Undersigned avails himself, &c.

SILVESTRE PINHEIRO FERREIRA.

The Rt. Hon. E. Thornton.

(Inclosure 2.)-Additional Article.

It is agreed, that if there shall be clear and undeniable proof, that a Slave or Slaves have been, for the purpose of illegal Traffick, put on board a Vessel in the immediate Cruize on which the Vessel shall be captured, then and on that account, according to the true intent and meaning of the Stipulations of the Treaty of the 22d day of January, 1815, and of the Additional Convention of the 28th day of July, 1817, she is to be justly detained by Cruizers, and finally condemned by the Commissioners, although such Slave or Slaves shall not be found actually on board at the time of capture.

The present Additional Article shall have the same force and effect as if it were inserted, word for word, in the Additional Convention of the 28th day of July, 1817.

In witness whereof, we, the Undersigned Plenipotentiaries, duly authorized, ad hoc, by our respective Sovereigns, have signed it, and have thereunto affixed the Seals of our Arms. Done in London, &c.

SIR,

No. 48.-The Marquess of Londonderry to E. M. Ward, Esq. Foreign Office, 4th September, 1821. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you an Extract of a Dispatch which the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have received from Sir G. Collier, dated in the Bight of Benin, the 19th March, 1821, and covering the Copy of a Declaration (also herewith inclosed) written on the face of the Royal Passport, of the Portuguese Brig Victoria, found off Whydah, under suspicious circumstances, and so added thereto, in the hope that the said Document might meet the eye of some Portuguese Authority, enabling him thereby to trace the legality of the Voyage of the Vessel in question.

I have accordingly to desire, that you will take an early opportunity of communicating the same to the Government at Lisbon, in furtherance of the object in view. E. M. Ward, Esq.

I am,

&c.

LONDONDERRY.

No. 49.-E. M. Ward, Esq. to the Marquess of Londonderry.

MY LORD,

(Received October 30.)

Lisbon, 20th October, 1821.

I HAVE the honour herewith to submit the Copy of my Note to M. Pinheiro, on the subject of Sir George Collier's statement respecting a Portuguese Slaver, transmitted in your Lordship's Dispatch of the 12th ultimo, and also a Translation of M. Pinheiro's Answer.

His Excellency says that the necessary enquiries have been directed to be made in order to enforce a due execution of the Treaty. I have, &c.

The Marquess of Londonderry, K.G.

E. M. WARD.

(Inclosure 1.)-E. M. Ward, Esq. to M. Pinheiro. Lisbon, 13th October, 1821. THE Undersigned has the honour to communicate to his Excellency Silvestre Pinheiro Ferreira, &c. an Extract of a Dispatch transmitted to him by the Marquess of Londonderry, addressed by Sir George Collier to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty in London, dated in the Bight of Benin, the 19th March, 1821, and covering the Copy of a Declaration (also herewith inclosed) written on the face of the Royal Passport of the Portuguese Brig Victoria, found off Whydah under suspicious circumstances, and so added thereto, in the hope that the said Document might meet the eye of some Portuguese Authority, enabling him thereby to trace the legality of the Voyage of the Vessel in question.

The Undersigned complies with his Instructions, to lay the same before his Excellency, in the full confidence of the cordial co-operation of His Most Faithful Majesty's Government towards the furtherance of the object in view. He has the honour, &c. H. E. Sen. Pinheiro.

E. M. WARD.

(Inclosure 2.)-M. Pinheiro Ferreira to E. M. Ward, Esq. (Translation.) Lisbon, 17th October, 1821. THE Undersigned, &c. has received the Note of E. M. Ward, Esq. dated the 13th instant, and transmitting an Extract of a Dispatch addressed by Sir George Collier to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, relative to the Portuguese Brig Victoria; and having laid the same before the King, His Majesty has been pleased to command the necessary inquiries to be made, in conformity with the Treaties, in order to cause those Treaties to receive their full execution. The Undersigned, &c.

E. M. Ward, Esq.

SILVESTRE PINHEIRO FERREIRA.

No. 50.-The Marquess of Londonderry to E. M. Ward, Esq. SIR, Foreign Office, 27th March, 1822. I SEND to you herewith a Copy of a Report, dated the 22d of January, 1822, from the Governor of His Majesty's Settlement at Sierra Leone; and I have to call your attention to that part of it which relates to the illicit Slave-trade, as carried on under the Flag of Portugal.

It is lamentable to observe the instances, which are almost daily met with by His Majesty's Cruizers on the African Station, showing that this detestable traffick still exists, and is continued with an activity and a boldness which one can hardly reconcile with a due execution of the Portuguese Laws in this respect, by their Subordinate Authorities.

It is true that some of the Vessels engaged in this Trade, meet with the fate which they seem to brave as much as they deserve; but in other cases, the circumstances are unfortunately such as to allow of their escaping, at least for the moment.

You will see that at Whydah and Badagry 6 Slave-trading Vessels were found under the Portuguese Flag; these Vessels were furnished with boilers, irons, water-casks, and other implements, with which Vessels destined for this cruel barter are equipped; they had no Slaves on board, and could not therefore be detained.

Six Portuguese Slave-vessels, the List of which is inclosed, were likewise examined about the same time at Calabar and Lagos.

An extensive Carrying Trade appears to be kept up with the Cape de Verd Islands, from the Portuguese Settlements of Cacheo and Bissao; and the Slave-traders at Cacheo have recently given their traffick in the Rio Grande a new feature of barbarous atrocity. They visit this River in armed Sloops and Boats, and, landing during the night, carry off as many as they can of the unfortunate Inhabitants.

The fine Rivers Nunez and Pongas, are entirely under the controul of renegado Slave-traders; most of the Slaves sent from the former River find their way to Cacheo and the Cape Verds, where, it is said, they are shipped as Domesticks to the Brazils.

The accounts of the number of Slave-cargoes shipped from the several Rivers on the Coast, during the last Year, show them to be enormous; and it is more than suspected, as you will have perceived, that the Portuguese Flag, and that Portuguese Subjects, are deeply implicated in this Crime.

Under these circumstances, I have to desire that you will state the facts to the Government of His Most Faithful Majesty, accompanied by the observations which will naturally suggest themselves to you, and press upon the Government to issue such prompt and severe Orders upon the subject, as may give effect to the Stipulations which have from time to time been entered into with that Country, with a view to the immediate restriction and gradual abolition of this disgraceful traffick.

E. M. Ward, Esq.

I am, &c.

LONDONDERRY.

E

(Inclosure.)-Memorandum of Slave-vessels, examined by His Majesty's Brig Snapper, in July and August, 1821.

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E. Ped. Saintez. Paul Josse. St. Salvador. Angola. St.Salvador. Portu-
guese.

Completely fitted out for Slaves.

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No. 51.-The Marquess of Londonderry to E. M. Ward, Esq. SIR, Foreign Office, 27th March, 1822. You will see, by No. 121. B. of the Papers laid before Parliament in the course of last Session, and of which you are herewith furnished with a Copy, that on the 22d September, 1820, I addressed a Dispatch, by the King's Commands, to His Majesty's Ambassadors at Madrid and in The Netherlands, and to His Majesty's Envoy at Rio de Janeiro, on the subject of the construction of the 9th Article of the Treaties with those Powers respectively, for the prevention of the illegal traffick in Slaves.

You will perceive, that in those Papers I alluded to the letter of that Article which authorizes ships of War to detain and bring in suspected Vessels, only in the event of Slaves being at the time found on board of such Vessels. I proposed in that Dispatch, that a Declaration should be issued in the spirit of the Treaty, by the Powers concerned, purporting that, if there shall be proof that a Slave or Slaves had been, for the purpose of illegal traffick, put on board a Vessel in the course of the Voyage on which she was captured, such Vessel might justifiably be detained by the Cruizers, and finally be condemned by

the Commissions.

By Nos. 124 and 145 of the Papers in question, you will see that the Courts of Spain and The Netherlands agreed to the Declaration proposed; and, by the accompanying Copy of a Dispatch, dated 4th May, 1821, together with its Inclosures, from Mr.Thornton, His Majesty's late Envoy at Rio de Janeiro, you will learn that the Court of Portugal had at that time announced to Mr. Thornton, that the necessary

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